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Using a Call Center from the Same Nation as Your Customers
Call centers and brand care specialists have come a long way since the days of “Dell Hell” customer service, back in the 90’s and early aughts. Sure, it’s still possible to scrimp on customer service, and let your customer base pick up the slack. But I’m not going to do that and, if you’re reading this, you probably won’t either. Customer care through a qualified call center is an investment. But it will pay enormous dividends in customer acquisition and loyalty. Simply by being accessible and communicative in your customer communications, you will make yourself stand out from the crowd.
But what if you have lots of customers in nations that are not your own? What if you hope to expand significantly into these markets? In order to maximize expansion into an international customer base, it is vital to provide a customer service experience to them that is just as good as that provided your own countrymen. In cases like these, it is important to outsource the job to a call center and brand care specialist based in the nation you are targeting. This works in your favor in many ways:
1) Language. Your foreign call center will speak the language of your customers fluently. In fact, their fluency goes one level deeper than that of even the world’s best polyglot. Native speakers possess an innate knowledge of their home language that comes from speaking it since infancy. Customers like talking with representatives that speak their language with this degree of proficiency. It is one less barrier for entry between you and your international market.
2) Customs and Culture. Learning the customs of an international target market is a full time job in itself. If you are trying to be gracious and accommodating to international customers using a call center from another nation, you can guarantee there will be some cultural missteps. Native speakers working in an outsourced international call center will know about things like Holidays, figures of speech, the different style of electric wall sockets they use that you don’t. Your customers will feel appreciated and understood. And you won’t have to order Rosetta Stone.
3) Time Zone. This is perhaps the most obvious benefit of all, but it can’t be overstated. Sure, you can pay a call center in your own country to have a couple people on the line at all hours. But nothing beats having a fully staffed group of brand care specialists, trained and active, in your target nation, awake when your customer base is awake. When they call or email, your call center is ready. This is priceless.
I hope I’ve impressed upon you that hiring an outsourced call center in an international market is worth it. There are many benefits, but the bottom line is this: native speakers can serve your international customers way better than people who don’t know the language and customs as well. This will help you expand into new markets in ways that may be hard to imagine.
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